Courage: Of Cats and Dogs
by OmegaEntertainment
Summary: AU, when Eustace and Muriel find a cat in the same junkyard as Courage, they take pity on her and adopt her as well, how will this affect events, and most importantly, how will it affect Courage? Courage/OC. Rating will be changed to M in later chapters.
1. The Katz Motel

**A/N: Just so everyone knows, this is an AU where, in the same junkyard where they find Courage, they find and adopt a female white Ragdoll they decide to name Desiree.**

 **Yep, you can probably already tell where this story is going, as evidenced by the title and the character listing of [Courage/OC].**

 **Also, this Courage does make jokes and doesn't have as much fear, he still gets scared, also, he only makes jokes with Desiree, due to them both being at least a little bit friendly due to growing up together and being raised by Eustace and Muriel.**

 **However, I'll try to make their relationship develop as realistically as I can.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Katz Motel.**

Courage sleepily looked out at the building they were pulling into, the sign of which read "The Katz Motel".

He looked over at Desiree, who was curled up in Muriel arms as Eustace drove, and quipped, "Huh, Motel Katz, wonder if there are any of your species in there?"

Desiree glanced at him and gave a brief smile, "Yeah, maybe... You actually fell for the bad spelling, Courage?"

He gave a grin, "Nah, just seeing if I can make a joke out of it."

As the old truck stopped, Desiree hopped out after Muriel had opened the door, looking back over her shoulder as Courage followed, "Well, you failed."

Her smile, however, belayed her amusement at the so-called 'failed' joke.

Courage gave a matching smile in return, "Hey, it worked, and that's what counts."

Her smile got slightly wider, "I suppose it did."

However, her amusement disappeared, as the rain that had been coming down earlier returned with a vengeance, soaking the cat and causing her to let out a yowl as she ran toward the shelter of the motel.

As the four ran toward the motel through the rain, the door opened as a humanoid cat, seeming to be almost like Desiree, but taller and colored rust red, walked out, welcoming Eustace and Muriel into the motel but saying that their dog and cat would have to be tied up outside, Desiree noting the strange number on the door as Eustace tied a leash around her neck.

* * *

However, five minutes had passed as both Courage and Desiree shivered from the cold and trying to avoid the freezing rain.

They soon forgot about the temperature as a spider the size of Courage crawled out from behind a corner of the porch, Courage was momentarily frozen in fear from the sight, as Desiree unsheathed her claws and hissed at the large arachnid.

The spider, however, ignored her and moved closer to Courage with the intent to bite him.

Courage started to move away, straining against the leash as Desiree swiped at the spider with her claws, scoring a hit as it reeled back with three lines of green appearing on its face.

Courage, seeing that she had decided to fight back, joined in, somehow summoning a hammer which he used to smash the spider against the floor of the porch and stunning it long enough for Desiree to stab her claws through its head, killing it.

Desiree glanced at Courage, whose eyes were wide from the terrifying experience, and used her claws to cut their leashes, before pulling him with her toward the door which led into the motel.

* * *

The two moved silently through the halls, searching for the room which their owners had gone into, with Desiree remarking that it was much better not to be outside in the freezing rain.

Hearing screams, they moved toward the door that the screams had come from, which turned out to be locked, Courage somehow created a small cannon which punched a hole in the door large enough for him to fit his arm through, allowing him to unlock and open the door from the inside.

Rushing to the bathroom, Courage was greeted by the sight of Muriel attempting to hold back another spider just as large as the one they had encountered and killed on the porch, however, before they could help her, the bed holding Eustace flipped, sending the man into a hidden room beneath the one they were in.

Desiree glanced at Courage, and said, "Help her, Courage, I'll go get him!" With that, she ran off in search of Eustace.

After helping his owner push the spider back into the faucet it had come from, Courage moved to find Desiree.

Discovering the door to the back room ajar, and hearing hissing, he was greeted by the sight of a large spider web, which held both Eustace and Desiree, Eustace still asleep and now wrapped in spider silk, while Desiree, continuing to try and get her claws unstuck from where she had tried to climb the web, looked over her shoulder at the sound of the door being opened, gained a look of embarrassment at seeing Courage, "So... yeah... I kinda don't have him, forget what I said earlier."

As Courage moved toward the web with the intent to free them, he was frozen by the sight of yet another spider crawling down from the ceiling and moving toward Desiree, who, seeing Courage's expression change to fear, looked over at the spider, then at her stuck claws, and, gaining a look of worry, remarked, "Ah, well, this sucks..."

As it moved closer, Courage snapped out of his state of shock and grabbed a wooden board, using it to crush the spider before freeing Eustace and Desiree from the web.

With Courage grabbing Eustace, the two moved toward the door of the lobby, but were cut off by the tall red cat appearing in the doorway, Courage and Desiree gave a sigh of relief, before both were shocked by two spiders appearing at the cat's side, almost as if they were taking commands from him as he smirked, "Greetings, I am Katz, and you... well, you are dinner for my loves."

With a shared look of realization, the two ran the other way while holding Eustace, however, Desiree suddenly hissed as one of the spiders managed to catch hold of her leg, dragging her back as the other joined its sibling in keeping her from following Courage.

Desiree, seeing that Courage had slowed, looked over her shoulder and shouted, "Go, Courage, I'll hold these two off, get Eustace out of here!"

With a hiss, the white Ragdoll cat turned her head back toward the two spiders and unsheathed her claws, the red cat walking around them and following Courage, who had dropped Eustace before running toward one of the darkened rooms.

However, he came back out soon after, running straight into Katz and sending him to the ground as Desiree continued to fight off the two spiders.

Getting up, Katz turned to Courage, producing two rackets and a ball and offering to play a game with Courage before his spiders kill them.

As Desiree killed one of the spiders by slicing its neck open, Katz proceeded to beat Courage easily, and after winning while drinking tea and reading a book on spiders at the same time, he seized Courage by the throat and started to strangle him.

Desiree, seeing that Courage was in danger, killed the last spider and, hissing in rage, jumped onto Katz while stabbing her claws into his shoulder, managing to draw multiple lines of red as Katz yelled in pain, taking his hands from Courage's neck, grabbing Desiree and throwing her into the wall behind Courage.

With a look of disdain toward Desiree, curled against the wall and hissing in pain, Katz returned his gaze to Courage, and remarked, "Now, where were we? Hmm, dear boy?"

However, before he could proceed with his threat, he was bashed from behind by Muriel, who had picked up the fallen board that Courage had used before, the end of which was still covered in green spider blood.

Courage, having moved toward Desiree, asked her how bad it was, to which she replied, "Pretty bad... ribs." She gave another hiss of pain. "Yep, definitely the ribs..."

With a look of concern, Muriel picked up Desiree, "Oh dearie, did the bad man hurt you?"

At her nod, Muriel continued toward the door, followed by Courage and a finally awake Eustace, Courage moving to Desiree's side with a expression of worry and concern while Muriel remarked, "Well, I must say that the service was horrible, as well as the man attempting to hurt both of you, this place is one that I do not intend to come back to ever again."

As they got back in the truck, Eustace somehow getting out of his silken cocoon, replied, "Hmph, I'm just mad about losing my nap, why'd you two have to wake me up?"

 **End of Chapter 1.**

* * *

 **A/N: I know, not my best work, but I wanted to see how I could do with something that isn't as "End of the world"-y, like, say, the Blood and Snow: Omega series, war/military sci-fi stories such as Legend of Phoenix Team or Legend of the Iota Republic, or mythology like The Son of Thanatos.**

 **Also, the reason for the chapters of this story being at Iota Republic Codex levels of short is because, honestly, each of the episodes of the show are only twenty-two minutes long, and while I could make each chapter be made up of multiple episodes, I'd rather not do that without someone else's opinion.**


	2. The Shadow of Stars

**A/N: Whelp, here's chapter two, and even though I haven't gotten any reviews for this story, yet, I'll continue and just hope that you guys enjoy it.**

 **Also, here's a quick question that I may end up making into a poll, should I have Courage and Desiree go, ah, all the way, or just have them be in a relationship?**

 **Hold on, let me rephrase that, I already have plans for them to become a couple, as evidenced by the character list which states that they are a pairing, what I'm asking is, should I have their relationship become sexual?**

 **Of course, I'll have to take this up to an M-rating, and there is always the chance that CIR (Copyright Infringement Reports) could come after this story despite it being out of their jurisdiction, or ThePolicyOfTruth, who has absolutely no more power than any other author.**

 **Don't worry, they still have a while before they start dating, around the time of Season 2/the end of Season 1, so it gives all of you plenty of time to answer, depending on how many episodes I decide to skip.**

 **Quick note, decided to skip Cajun Granny Stew, despite it being scheduled for this chapter, because it made no goddamn sense and I couldn't think of a way to bring in Desiree without the fox ending up getting stabbed by Desiree and her claws, it'll be mentioned, but nothing more.**

 **In case anyone wanted to know, I'm making Desiree anthro (though not to the insane point that others do, *cough*, "[USERNAME REDACTED]", *cough*), I'm also giving the Shadow the appearance of the Phantom from the recent game Prey, because I have plans for the Shadow which I shall not reveal, and I didn't think its original appearance would leave enough of an impression.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Shadow of Stars.**

Courage woke, startled by a bolt of lightning as Desiree lifted her head and stared at him from her position at the other side of the bed, "Huh, and here I thought that you'd gotten over your nerves after that encounter you told me you had with that crazy fox."

Courage's expression of surprise became replaced by a look of guilt, "I can't help it, every time I wake up I expect to see Katz standing over me with his spiders crawling around the room."

Desiree gave him a glance of sympathy, "Don't worry, Courage, he has no way of knowing where we live, and even if he did come here..." She unsheathed her claws before retracting them, the action giving a promise of pain to anyone who would try to harm the two or their owners.

In reply, he gave her a grateful smile, which she returned, as he replied, "Thanks Desiree, it means a lot to me."

Her smile gained a hint of pride, "Enough for us to actually get some sleep?"

He looked at the clock, which showed the time as being two in the morning, "Yeah, I guess."

As the two lied down, Courage already closing his eyes, the pink dog heard Desiree speak softly, as if she didn't intend for him to hear, "After all, it is what friends are for..."

* * *

Desiree continued to watch Courage, musing, _'What friends are for...'_

She briefly flinched as another flash of lightning illuminated the room, _'He gives me so much thanks, yet the only reason I'm alive is because of him, and... I never thanked_ him _for what he did for me, he didn't have to show them where I was hiding, he didn't have to insist that they take me with them, or share his food with me when we first got here because I was starving and weak, yet... he did.'_

She was interrupted from her thoughts as she realized that the flash of lightning which had caused her to flinch had also revealed a humanoid shadow standing over Courage, a shadow which had no physical body to which it owed its existence.

Desiree, in the space of a half second, was crouched over Courage, baring her claws at the intruder even as Eustace and Muriel woke to the sight of her hissing at empty air.

Courage, lying on the bed with Desiree crouched over him protectively, blinked sleepily at the cat who continued to stare at an empty space.

Desiree was brought out of her trance as Courage started to stutter nervously, "D-Desiree, what are you doing? W-What's wrong? Is it Katz?"

Both of them crawled away from each other in embarrassment as the two realized that she had practically draped herself over him in her rush to protect him from the shadowy being.

Before she could explain what she had seen to him, she was stopped by Eustace grabbing her, "Alright, you're going in the attic, I'll just let you out in the morning when you decide to act like a real cat."

As Desiree tried to fight her way out of his grip, she looked straight at Courage, and shouted, "Courage, there's something in the house! I don't know what it is, and it might come back! You need to be careful, I'll try to get out and-"

Whatever else she was about to say was cut off as the door slammed shut behind her.

After a couple of minutes, Courage could hear furious yowling and scratching, and he thought that he could hear Desiree shouting for him to watch out for some kind of 'shadow'.

However, he was still tired, and he settled back down and closed his eyes as Eustace climbed back into the bed, complaining about Desiree acting unusually aggressive.

However, as Courage closed his eyes, he continued to worry about Desiree, not knowing that she was doing the same, and wondered, _'Man, what did she see to make her act like that?'_

* * *

Desiree, meanwhile, worried that the intruder would come back and attack Eustace, Muriel, or even worse... _'Courage, please be alright...'_

As she continued to scratch uselessly at the attic door, she pondered what that thing had been, _'Didn't look like Katz, or the Fox that Courage described, and it was certainly too tall to be that alien chicken thing we killed... speaking of which, where'd the ship that dropped it off go?'_

Her mind briefly granted her with images of ships coming down across the planet, turning most of the population of Earth into mutant chickens with laser pistols preparing to invade the town of Nowhere, Kansas.

After shuddering from _that_ image, she brought her thoughts back to the matter at hand, _'Why didn't any of them see it...? Courage at least should have'_ She pondered, realizing the obvious answer, _'Of course... they were all asleep when I saw it, and it disappeared before they could see what it was.'_

She renewed her scratching on the door, shouting and hoping that Courage would hear her, "Courage, be careful, watch out for the shadow! Courage!" She stopped as she heard the bedroom door be slammed closed and be locked by Eustace, realizing that Courage wouldn't be able to hear her with two doors between them.

She curled up on the floor in the freezing attic, shivering and trying to keep watch for the intruder, hoping against hope that Courage would be alright.

* * *

Courage woke, screaming, his mind filled with images of Katz and his spiders attacking him and Desiree.

With a groan of annoyance, Eustace grabbed Courage, who, due to his shock, could not resist him, and said that he would be going in the attic with the crazy cat.

With a grunt, Eustace opened the attic door, seeing the shivering cat curled up on the floor, and threw Courage in before slamming and locking the attic door.

Within seconds, Desiree was next to him, "Courage, what's wrong? I heard screaming."

Courage shivered, though it was not because of the cold, "Nightmare... It was about Katz, again."

Desiree gave him a look of sympathy, "Remember, Courage, he doesn't know where we live and he has no way to get to us."

Courage's expression of fear was replaced by one of gratitude, "Thanks, Desiree."

Her expression gained a touch of guilt as she looked away from him, _'He shouldn't be the one thanking me, I should be thanking him.'_

Desiree looked back at Courage, "Courage, tha-" However, she was interrupted by the door being slammed open by Eustace, who seemed enraged.

Eustace stormed up to Courage and started to strangle him, "I'll teach you, you don't get to mock me without me punishing you!"

Desiree watched, confused at the nonsense that Eustace was screaming, and, snapping out of her state of shock, ran over, hissing at Eustace with her claws unsheathed.

Eustace backed up with a mix of surprise, fear, and anger, "Wha? Why I oughta..."

Before he could do anything else, Muriel hit him over the back of the head with a rolling pin.

Of course, had they known that the rolling pin was made from the very same wooden plank she had hit Katz over the head with, that would have also made it ironic as well.

However, after Muriel had left, Desiree and Courage were shocked as two shadowy hands rose from the floor and seized Eustace, drawing him through the floor without even a sound as the two watched in horrified silence.

The moment of shock was broken after a couple of minutes, as Desiree finally found the will to speak, "Tha-That's what I saw, that's the Shadow I saw!"

Without a word, Courage rushed down the stairs to save Eustace, and despite silently disagreeing, Desiree followed him, both to find out what exactly that thing _was_ and to protect Courage from it if it actually proved to be hostile toward them.

As the two ran into the kitchen, Desiree pondered why they had to save him, _'After all, he's done nothing but harm Courage since that thing showed up, I'll have to watch him after this... If he hurts Courage again, I'll make sure he knows what the consequences are...'_

Looking toward the basement, the two stared at the door in silence, neither wanting to enter, but both of them also wanting to know what the being had been.

With an expression of fright, Courage opened the door to the basement, Desiree following behind him with her claws unsheathed as both heard Eustace's screams of fear.

As the two crept down the basement stairs, Eustace's screams cut off while Courage, having summoned a flashlight from who knows where, and Desiree both stared at the being that had taken Eustace.

The creature, made up of some kind of black tendrils, stood at a whopping seven feet tall, its eyes glowing with pale blue light as it stared at them in what most seemed like surprise, clearly not having expected the two to follow it.

With an unfocused and distracted look in what seemed to be its eyes, the being idly lifted its right arm, which shifted into dozens of snakes formed from the same shadowy tendrils that made up its body.

Letting out simultaneous hissing sounds which had no clear origins of where they had come from, whether from the snakes or the being that had formed them, the snakes extended themselves across the room, while keeping themselves connected to the arm, straight toward both Desiree and Courage.

As two came at her at once, she swiped her claws at them, scoring a hit and causing a distracted growl of irritation to come from the shadowy being.

However, she was unable to hold back the dozens of snakes which wrapped around both her and Courage, who let out a yelp of fear as the snakes bared their fangs at the two.

As Courage started trying to struggle out of the grasp of the snakes, Desiree started to panic as the snakes... stared at them, completely still, as if they had heard some kind of command which had told them to stop.

Glancing at the shadowy being, Desiree was surprised to see that its head was inclined toward the floor, while its glowing eyes were narrowed in looked almost like shame.

As Courage stopped struggling, having realized that the snakes had not harmed either of them, he followed her gaze to the shadowy being, which let out a ethereal sigh which seemed to come from both it and the snakes which surrounded them.

In an ethereal voice which came from all around the two, the being _spoke_ , "I'm sorry... I never meant to scare anyone, I always wanted to be helpful, but the greedy old man I was bound to never let me..."

The shadowy snakes then retreated, going back to the being and shifting back into the arm, though there seemed to be a scar on the arm of the being which was colored dark grey.

The being glanced at the scar, before looking at them in what seemed to be amusement, "Huh, guess I deserved that, didn't I?"

The two could only look on in shock as the being had just been trying to kill them was now _apologizing_.

Though, as Desiree continued staring at the shadowy creature, she began to think about what its goal had truly been, _'Had it really been trying to kill us? Or was that just the personality of the old man influencing it into terrifying us? Maybe its actions were a call for help...'_

With a glance at Courage's now calmed expression, Desiree decided to speak, "So... what will you do now?"

The being which both she and Courage had decided to dub 'The Shadow' spoke again, though this time its voice only came itself, and not all around them, "I don't know... Stay here, maybe? Not like I really got much else to do, being a shadow and all."

Its glowing eyes seemed to become both wider and brighter, "Hey, maybe I could become a star... I always wanted to be one, and now that I've become this, I can!"

Before Desiree could reply, Courage finally found the will to speak, "Yeah, but what if we need your help? How would we ask you to help us?"

The Shadow looked around, its eyes dimming slightly, "Huh... I think that you can just, well, talk to me through the shadows..."

It seemed to wince in what seemed to be pain, "I can hear through all of them, I can hear it all, that's why I wasn't able to notice that I was attacking you guys, my 'body' was on autopilot while I was trying to filter everything out... But I think I got it now."

That, however, did not reassure the two, who shared a look of worry, both wondering what would happen if the Shadow became distracted again while they were near it.

Their fears, however, were unneeded, as the Shadow, with its right arm splitting up again... waved goodbye, and, after changing its arm back, it rose into the air, seeming to float as it proceeded to go straight through the ceiling of the basement and, unknown to the two, it flew into the sky, disappearing with a pulse of dark energy as it broke through the atmosphere and went into the endless void known as space.

 **End of Chapter Two.**

* * *

 **A/N: So, yeah, I'd say that was a pretty good way to go through Chapter Two, Courage and Desiree gain a new ally, their relationship has gotten a little awkward, and Desiree is wary of Eustace for obvious reasons...**


	3. Fred

**A/N: Hey everyone, I know, it's been a while, but here's another chapter in apology.**

 **Also, something to note, I made Fred just a _little_ bit more insane than he already was... you'll see.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Fred.**

Desiree glared at Eustace warily, making sure to stand between him and Courage, as she was not willing to trust him after what he had done the week before.

Turning her attention to Courage, she was surprised to see that he was nervous at the prospect of Muriel's nephew visiting, laying a hand on his shoulder, she said, "Don't worry, it'll be fine, Courage."

He glanced at her before turning his eyes back to the door, "Yeah, but what if he's some horrible monster, or crazy, or..."

Desiree smiled, surprising Courage with how much warmth it contained, "Courage, have I ever told you that you worry too much?"

He took a second to respond, "No..."

Her smile got slightly wider, "Well, I'm telling you now, you worry too much."

Surprising himself, he started laughing softly, Desiree watching him in confusion for a second before she joined in.

The ring of the doorbell interrupted their laughter, Courage staring at the door for a second before he opened it.

To their surprise, a strange looking man was standing there politely, as if waiting for permission to come in.

The man looked down at the two in confusion, apparently not expecting a two-foot tall pink dog and a white cat of the same height to open the door for him.

Not knowing how to respond, the two watched him in surprise, wondering who he was.

His stare turning to a polite smile, he said, "Hello, you two, I am Fred, may I come in?"

Shaking herself out of her shock, Desiree motioned for him to come in.

Fred smiled at the two as he walked through the door, his eyes locked on Courage the entire time.

Muriel came from the kitchen, welcoming Fred into the house while wrapping her arms around her nephew.

The two closed the door, watching as Muriel directed both Eustace and Fred to the couch, the latter now visibly fixated on Courage, which caused Desiree to narrow her eyes at the man, the cat silently wondering why he was staring at Courage in that way.

To their surprise, Muriel instructed Courage to show Fred where the bathroom was so that the man could freshen up from his long trip.

With a look of worry, Desiree stared after them, finally noticing the wristband that Fred wore, which had the words "Home for Insane Barbers" and a call number.

Muriel, having forgotten to give Fred fresh towels, instructed Eustace to take some to him.

Silently following Eustace, Desiree was shocked when Eustace proceeded to roughly grab Courage and throw him into the bathroom with Fred, closing the door behind him and, due to the problem of it not opening once closed, trapping the two inside.

As Eustace turned around, he was surprised by the sight of Desiree, her claws bared, staring at him in anger as the shadows of the room began to coalesce into black serpents.

It was only when the serpents _spoke_ to her that he realized that they were, in fact, the same being that had assisted in getting rid of the demon which had infiltrated the house three nights before.

* * *

Courage stared at Fred, confused as to why he had withdrawn an electric shaver from his bag, letting out a shriek of shock as Fred roughly lifted him off of the floor and slammed him against the wall, holding him in place with one hand as he began shaving his hair off with the other.

Shaking off his disorientation from the impact, Courage tried to struggle out of Fred's grip, only increasing his efforts as Fred turned him around to shave his back.

However, Fred paused as he heard something pulling on the door, as the door started to move, he increased his speed, turning Courage around to press the other side of the shaver to his throat, revealing a sharped blade which caused Courage to still as he realized that the wrong movement could very well cause his throat to be sliced open.

The door was then ripped off of its hinges, revealing the Shadow with Desiree behind it, both of which froze in shock as they recognized who the man had as his hostage.

When Desiree started to move toward the two, Courage gave a yelp of pain as Fred pressed the blade to his throat, drawing a small amount of blood which caused Desiree to let out a hiss of rage.

Out of the corner of her eye, Desiree noticed that the Shadow had extended a few of its black tendrils from its right "hand", which began to silently creep over Fred's clothing as he stared at the two with a psychotic grin, almost seeming to be enjoying the pain he was causing.

While the Shadow continued to enact its plan, she started talking to Fred to keep him occupied, "Why are you doing this, Fred?"

As the insane man began to explain his reasons, detailing how he had first cut all of his girlfriend's hair, then, when she had broken up with him, he had become enraged and cut her throat as well, then going into a tale about how he had shaved a man bald before slicing open his windpipe, afterward, the man having miraculously survived, Fred was admitted to the Home for Insane Barbers.

The Shadow's tendrils started to become less solid than usual as the man spoke, covering Fred's limbs without his noticing, starting to cover his wrists as the tendrils holding his throat kept him from turning his head in Courage's direction.

The tendrils now covering everything except his head, the insane man finally noticed as one of the tendrils withdrew his wristband, finally realizing that he had been captured, Fred tried to move his wrist so that the blade would slice open Courage's throat, only to have the movement prevented by the shadowy tendrils now covering almost every inch of his body.

As the psychotic murderer shouted in insane rage, the Shadow used its left hand, which had not joined the right in holding Fred in place, to toss the wristband to Desiree, who nodded at it, smiling reassuringly at Courage as she went to the phone in Muriel and Eustace's room, proceeding to call the number so that the asylum wardens could collect Muriel's monster of a nephew.

To their confusion, Fred was now smiling at Courage, apparently having forgotten all of his anger at being captured by the Shadow.

Within minutes, the officers were at the door, restraining Fred, confiscating the bladed shaver, slapping handcuffs over his wrists, putting him in a straitjacket, and also wrapping him in some kind of blanket while hoisting him over their shoulders, before throwing him in the back of an armored truck, the doors of which would also be able to prevent his escape due to both being armored and the fact that they also required a key to be inserted from the outside in order to be opened.

As the two watched, Muriel approached one of the officers, asking why they were taking Fred away, to which the officer simply replied, pointing at the dried blood on Courage's throat, "Attempted murder."

The officers proceeded to drive away as Muriel registered the horrifying truth of what the man had told her.

When Courage noticed Fred staring at him and smiling, he shivered in fear.

Realizing that her best friend might just be traumatized even worse than what Katz _and_ the Demon had done put together, Desiree acted on impulse and drew the dog into a hug, holding Courage tightly as the terror of the situation finally caught up to him.

Glaring at Fred until the car faded from view, the cat gave a promise, _'If anything tries to harm him again, forget just holding them back, if something dares to threaten his life, then I'll make sure that I use lethal force...'_

 **End of Chapter 3.**

* * *

 **A/N: I'll have you guys know that I actually managed to get this one done in only two days, which is one hell of a record for me, even if it isn't as long as my other Chapters!**

 **So, we've got Fred being, well, more of a psychopath than he was in canon, but hey, this _is_ an AU.**

 **Also, we've got another appearance from our friendly household Shadow (Spider-Man reference, anyone?), as well as Desiree now willing to use lethal force...**

 **In case anyone's wondering, the reason that this Chapter isn't as long as, say, the Shadow's introduction, it's because, really, the canon episode was made up of flashbacks which had exposition in them, however, since no one except Fred himself had access to said flashbacks, I just had him explain it while the Shadow restrained.**


End file.
